


Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

by Renmackree



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, BAMF Stiles, M/M, MMORPG, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Recluse Derek, Video & Computer Games, WoF Universe, World of Fantasy Online Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-21
Updated: 2013-08-22
Packaged: 2017-12-24 04:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/935284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renmackree/pseuds/Renmackree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott frowned, grabbing the game case and reading it out loud.</p><p>	“Become the Hero you've always wanted to be. Battle monsters, witches, dragons, and all the mythical beasts of the World of Fantasy. Play as a Human, Elf, Dwarf and other special races included in the basic game. Stiles this so stupid. Who the hell would want to play as a Werewolf?” Scott threw the game back on the bed and leaned back in the chair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Game On

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: World of Fantasy Online now has a game cover!  
> http://kyuun-chan.tumblr.com/post/58956613891/for-a-fic-i-read-couldnt-help-myself-d-link
> 
> Bow down to the amazing-ness!

Stiles had been saving up his entire life's savings for this moment, the sleek box held tightly in his lap as he opened up the game system. True he had been working for this since high school started and he might have skipped out on things like school dances and actually having a social life outside of Scott. But this was the summer before college and he deserved to have fun before he left.

“Dude, you're going to play all summer?” Scott asked, a whine more than a question. Stile shot him a look of hurt and rose a brow.

“Dude, you're going to Memphis with your dad all summer?” Scott backed off a little, though he continued to whirl around in the chair as Stiles continued to unpack the box.

“What's so special about the Hell-Station anyways? It looks like a lacrosse helmet!” Stiles sputtered, shaking his head and flopping his arms around to convince Scott without words.

“Scott, the _Hale_ -Station is one of the most amazing games systems of all time! It stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. And when I say experience I mean...” he thrust his hips in an obscene gesture, waggling his eyebrows and licking his lips. Scott frowned, grabbing the game case and reading it out loud.

“Become the Hero you've always wanted to be. Battle monsters, witches, dragons, and all the mythical beasts of World of Fantasy. Play as a Human, Elf, Dwarf and other special races included in the basic game. Stiles this so stupid. Who the hell would want to play as a Werewolf?” Scott threw the game back on the bed and leaned back in the chair.

“Uh, me? This guy right here? He's gonna play a werewolf. They have the best DPS in the entire game. Claw, Claw, Bite BITCHES!” Stiles finally finished unpacking the system, looking over it and smiling. “Dude, this is going to be the best summer ever.” Scott rolled his eyes.

“If I get enough money, maybe I'll join you.” Scott grabbed a pen and paper to write down the game title, Stiles shrugging.

“The Hale-Station has a texting feature included so I can contact you while I'm in game. See? We're still going to talk. I'll just be battling goblins in the Plain of Halas and you'll be eating BBQ in Tennessee.”

Scott hesitated, but gave Stiles a huge hug. “Ok, well. Kill some Dragons for me.” Stiles hugged him back.

“Dude, the first one I see.” Scott snorted and looked him over. “Seriously, Scott. Don't give me those eyes. You are going to have a fantastic time with your dad. And when you get back, we'll be moving into the dorms. Right? You and me?”

Scott rolled his eyes and gave a lopsided smile. Stiles slapped his face lightly and grinned.

“Right, ok Stiles. But if you don't answer my texts I'm going to-- to-- something.” Scott grinned and slid out of the room leaving Stiles alone with his new game.

“Oh my god this is going to be Awweeesoooooomee” he sang, plugging in the machine and reading through the instruction manual.

“Step one, put on helmet. Step two turn on machine. Huh, easy.” he made sure everything was plugged in, ready to go and slid the helmet on.

 _“Welcome to Hale-Station! Please state your name so that we can start analyzing your personal frequency.”_ Stiles wanted to squeal, he sprawled on his bed comfortably, knowing he would probably spend a good ten hours on this _at least_.

“Stiles Stilinski.” he stated clearly, the helmet whirring and a small _ping!_

_“Stiles, welcome to the Hale-Station. It is recommended that you find a comfortable position to play. The transceivers not only block every transmission from the brain to the body, but also from the body to the brain; while using it, you will be completely insensate to the physical world. Please insert disc now.”_

Stiles fumbled around for the case, opening it up and sliding the disc into the slot on the helmet. He wiggled back against his bed and took a deep breath.

_“Now loading World of Fantasy Online. To begin play, say 'Start Game'.”_

“Start game.” and there was a flash of light so bright Stiles had to close his eyes. When he opened them he was standing in a small wooden shop with a young woman looking him over.

 _“Please look into the mirror and customize your Avatar.”_ Stiles swallowed looking into the mirror and seeing that at the moment, it looked just like him. 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone with far too many moles and blemishes. He quickly began scrolling through the hair choices, feeling like an epic character should have an epic mane. He decided on brown tufts of hair that looked similar to his, but longer.

Then it gave him the option to switch gender. He had always thought about playing a girl. Since it was a virtual reality he could walk around groping himself and the like. But, he decided if he wanted to have a good time with the other players, it would be safer to be a boy.

Next came race. He could choose to be anything from Human to fairy, though everything he had read pointed to a Human Werewolf being the best character choice for Melee damage. But Stiles was convinced that maybe he should look into something else... Like an Elf. He scrolled through the hundreds of choices and finally settled with a Half-elf.

_“When you are finished, please state your log-in name.”_

“BigBadStiles.” the woman nodded as the information from Stiles' online account was shown on screen. He grinned wide as the woman opened the door behind her.

 _“Welcome, Stiles, to the World of Fantasy”_ as soon as he stepped through the door, Stiles felt the tingle spreading through his body. He giggled, holding up his hands and running them over his ears. They were pointed slightly, making him break out in a grin.

“Holy fuck, I'm an elf!” he said, jumping up in the air for a moment before realizing he was only wearing boxers. “Holy fuck I'm naked.” he wrapped his arms around his chest, looking for something to cover himself with when a player walked out of the woods and into his line of sight. The two of them looked at each other.

“You new?” the player asked, walking forward. He was lanky looking, two swords crossed on his back and light-weight armor that looked like it had been made from the scales of a dragon. Which, knowing this game, it had been.

“Uh, yeah. Just logged in.” he blinked, the dancing name above the player read _GraveDigger_.

“Sweet. So, you need some starting equipment?” the boy asked, pulling up his inventory and slowly sliding out basic clothing and weapons before handing them over to Stiles. Stiles blinked a little, wondering how exactly someone would _have_ this much extra equipment since the game came out _today_.

“Oh wow, I... no it's fine...” Stiles tried to push the equipment back, not wanting to be seen as a noob who needed hand outs. But GraveDigger just smiled.

“It's fine, trust me. I have _tons_ of stuff.” he was about to walk away when Stiles made a sound. GraveDigger pulled something out of his inventory and threw it at him. “There, now you can add me.” Stiles nodded and the boy left.

He quickly equipped all the gear that he was given, feeling much better now that he was wearing more than a pair of boxers and held the short sword in his hands. It felt so _real_ , like he was actually about to slice someone in half with it. He put it back in the sheath and took the small dog tag GraveDigger had given him.

When he installed it into his character's friend base, he blinked rapidly at the Gamer Profile.

_Isaac Lahey, 18, Beta Tester. Race: Human/Werewolf, Class: Tracker, Guild: Hale-Hounds._

“Oh fuck that was a Beta?!” Stiles looked around trying to see if Isaac was around still. Beta testers were the ones who tried out the game _long_ before it had come out, most of them actually beating the main quest lines before the release. This game didn't even _have_ an open Beta, which meant he knew the creators of the game personally, the Alpha players.

The Hales.

Stiles had managed to get the hang of the game after a couple hours of wandering through the Forest of Noxus and beating up on the spiders and wolves that were programed to be easy kills and high spawn points. So by the time he managed to make it to the first city, he was level four.

He was getting hungry in game, which made him wonder if he was actually hungry in real life. It was possible, and he should probably find a save point so that he could make himself some Ramen. He sat down at the bar in the town ordering a small meal with his meager starting gold when a voice broke over.

“He made it out alive. Wonderful.” Stiles turned around to see Isaac walking into the room and sitting down next to him. “Glad to see your equipment went to good use, Isaac” a woman with very form fitting leather armor and a dancing name reading Blondeb!tch above her head stood on his other side. She smiled sweetly at Stiles and bit into an apple.

“He's a catch.” she reached over handing him her dog tag so that Stiles could add her as a friend.

_Erica Reyes, 18, Beta Tester. Race: Elf/Werewolf, Class: Healer, Guild: Hale-Hounds._

“So, you two are Beta testers?” Isaac nodded, drinking from his mug.

“Yup, are job right now it to make sure the newbies can make it to the first town. And then we're supposed to help you chose a class and then send you in that direction” Stiles nodded, looking between Isaac and Erica before shrugging.

“Honestly? I don't know what I want to do. I was just hoping to chill for like the first ten levels. I read online that--”

“Don't trust the internet. Everything put out on this game was from Laura and she doesn't know the difference between Monkshood and wolfsbane.” Erica rolled her eyes at Isaac and finished her apple.

“Shut up, Isaac. He can do whatever the hell he wants. That's the joy of this game.” she winked at him and threw the core away. When she stood up, Stiles could see a great sword strapped to her back and daggers strapped over her arms and legs. “Good meeting you, Stiles. But we've got a Guild Raid to go to. Check me up if you want a good time!”

Isaac and Erica both walked out of the tavern, Stiles left sitting at the bar alone.

Stiles logged off not long after that, grabbing something to eat and settling on his computer to do some much needed research on the games creators. He shifted through the massive amounts of rumors about Peter Hale's death and focused on the man himself.

Peter Hale was the CEO of Hale Industries and the creators of several games in recent years. It was Peter's invention, the Hale-Station, that made them number one in the video game industry.

Laura Hale was the creative consultant, the artist behind the game and the world around it. She had been working on the artwork for _four_ years before she was satisfied with the layout.

Cora Hale was the young programer who seemed to have a knack for everything digital. She had graduated from MIT at the age of 17 and was working for Hale Industries ever since. Stiles secretly thought that of all the Hales, she would be the one he would get along best with.

Then there was Derek. It wasn't that Derek wasn't intelligent or talented, he had done architecture work for Weta Digital and was even credited in the Lord of the Rings for his work on Mordor (Stiles checked the movie credits after reading this information and, yes, Derek was there). But compared to his genius Sisters... he was the black sheep. He never did interviews, never went out in public, all he did was test their games.

Stiles figured this was probably for the best, games needed testers.

He then went on to read about the Beta testers. There was Isaac, who was actually part of the Hale family after his father and mother both died. Then Erica, who Laura hired to 'aspire girls that they too can kick ass in the online'. Finally there was Boyd. He looked to be the size of a mountain and barely smiled, but he looked like a good guy. Cora met him at MIT and the two of them have been inseparable since. Though rumors were that he and Erica were dating.

All-in-all, Stiles felt he had a productive day both in game and out and decided to call it a night. However, at that moment his helmet beeped saying he had a message. Rolling onto his bed he slid the helmet on so he could read the message.

_Hoowwwwwwwwwllllll at the full moon tonight, bitches! Hale-Hounds be rolling on the Looping Plains. Be there or suck dick!- E._

Stiles snorted, flipping through Erica's status update. It really wasn't for him, after all, since he was level four and the Looping Plains were a 50+ campaign zone. But she had _included_ him in the update which meant she _wanted_ him to know about it.

Probably to make him jealous.

He had told himself he was going to go to bed, that he was going to get some sleep and wake up refreshed tomorrow. But everyone was online right now...

“Start Game.” he said, and when the flash of light went off he kept his eyes opened and watched the World of Fantasy materialize before him.

“Awesome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was seriously wanting to do a Beta/Alpha dynamic sans werewolves. So, have video games.


	2. We Got Keyboard Chemistry

 It was two days into the game when Stiles found Isaac and Erica again, the two of them talking loudly in a tavern near a quest Stiles had been itching to do.

“Hey! Stiles!” Stiles blinked, looking over Erica who was waving him over. “Come join us, I'll buy you a health potion.” Stiles hesitated, they _were_ expensive and he had been loosing experience from _dying_ all the time, so he walked over and joined them.

“Uh, thanks. That's really awesome of you.” she smiled and pulled one out of her inventory for him. Stiles shoved it into his own and scratched the back of his head. “I was actually about to go on a quest, so this will help.” Isaac leaned forward.

“The cave of Qud?” he asked, drinking from his flagon of something and pulling out a map. “Don't do that quest first, because you won't want to get to the end without first doing the fetch quest for Simon the baker.” he pointed to the local place where a small green exclamation point was jumping up and down.

“Why would you do that? I mean, I guess I under--”

“Because you get a really cool set of tomes from the baker. He bought them thinking they were recipes when really they were spells. So you get Magic Missal, Fireball, _and_ Frost ray. But if you do the baker quest _after_ the cave you only get Magic Missal.” Erica was nodding as she tapped the map too.

“If you do everything the way the tutorial is set up, you will hardly get any magic at the beginning levels and have to scramble for them towards the end. Just trust us.” Stiles _did_ trust them. They were the _Betas!_ They had to know every secret this game held.

“I see, well. Sure! I guess I'll go to Simon the baker.” he unfurled his own map marking the spot and getting up. “Well, I should get going then. Lots of quests, only so many hours in the summer.”

“We can go with you.” Isaac threw in, grinning wider. Stiles didn't know if this was just them being helpful or they actually had a general interest in him as a player. True he wasn't one of the people walking around groping themselves, but still. He was a sub-par player.

“Uh, don't you guys have like... High level quests or something? I don't want to hold you back--”

“Seriously? I'll do anything to get off the high level ones. Der's pushing us so hard on the new DLC that we're barely on for fun anymore.”

Stiles blinked tilting his head. Der must mean Derek, so was he the Guild leader? Isaac must have noticed his look because he confirmed it.

“Derek is the Leader of our Guild. Laura, Peter, and Derek were all Alphas in the game when it was still in the works. Then Cora, Erica, Boyd and I all Beta tested it. Peter doesn't play and Laura's too busy with the graphics for the new expansions.”

“But the game came out like, three days ago! How can they already be making more?” Erica snorted.

“Because Peter Hale's a slave driver.” she stated, standing up with Isaac and motioning towards the door. “Now let's get you those spells.”

With the help of Erica and Isaac, Stiles was climbing the levels like a pro. He had decided he liked being a spell caster, especially since he had fireball in the early levels. It made burning Orc villages a piece of cake. They were walking through one of the smaller towns on the main map, Erica pointing out the best places to buy things, when two knights made their way towards them.

Above the heads the flashing names _Zamboni-Master_ and _Fenrisulfr_ were visible, both had on large wolf-shaped helmets, their black armor sleek in the sunlight. The taller one took off his helmet, a darker-skinned male smiling at them.

“Erica, Isaac. We were wondering where you went.” Stiles assumed this was Boyd, thought for all he knew it could be Cora. Or Derek... damn video games.

“Boyd!” Erica squealed, jumping up and looking over the armor. “Oh my _god_ is this the new armor design Laura was working on?” Boyd nodded, putting her down after a hug.

“You like? It's called the Wolf-guard. It's even got the ability to wild-shape with us.” Stiles was a little confused about the term, but he assumed it meant 'would change into werewolf size when needed.' Isaac grinned over it too.

“Who's the mage?” Stiles looked around, still not used to the fact that everyone refereed to themselves as their class.

“Boyd, this is Stiles. The dude Isaac helped?” Boyd nodded slowly, handing over the dog tag that contained his user data.

“Hey, I'm Boyd.”

“And... I'm Stiles!” Stiles repeated, not really sure how this conversation could progress further with him. Luckily Isaac distracted Boyd long enough for Stiles to input the data into his friend's list.

_Vernon Boyd 18, Beta Tester. Race:Half-Giant/Werewolf, Class: Palidan, Guild: Hale-Hounds_

He smiled a little, he had most of the Betas as friends (who were his _only_ friends, but still) and they seemed eager to help him get to the actual game rather than stuck in tutorial land.

“Dude, you are such a creeper. Just fucking take off the helmet.” Erica said, making Stiles look up in surprise. He had forgotten there was a second knight with Boyd and noticed they seemed to be trying to stay hidden. There was a sigh and then the helmet came off to reveal the most beautifully rendered CGI character Stiles had ever seen.

True, the person probably looked better in real life, but they were pretty sexy in the game too.

“You guys were supposed to meet us at the Rendezvous Inn in Whitewall four hours ago. Cora's been pinging our position.” Stiles swallowed, this must be--

“Der, stop being an ass. We wanted to play some of the lower-level quests with our new buddy Stiles.” Erica leaned against the teenager, making him smile a little. It was kinda cool to know they liked hanging out with him.

“You don't get _paid_ to do lower-level quests.” Derek growled.

“I don't get paid at all” Isaac stated, raising his hand slightly and shrugging. “I just like the free games.” Derek grumbled something and motioned.

“We have to go. Peter's launching a Party Quest tonight and we have to make sure that the new graphics are working up to speed.” he turned, motioning for Isaac and Erica to follow.

“Sorry, duty calls.” Erica sighed, winking at Stiles. “but if you're going to be on for a while, come to the Rendezvous Inn at 10pm game time. They're throwing a release party and I'll put your name on the list.” Stiles nodded waving slightly.

He really didn't want to go off and do quests without them, they had made the game fun and entertaining. What it was _supposed_ to be. Isaac turned around, grinning and throwing a dog tag at him before they were transported to a different map. Stiles caught it, frowning as he plugged it in and bit his lip.

_Derek Hale, 24, Alpha Tester. Race: Human/Werewolf, Class: Berseker, Guild: Hale-Hounds_

So Stiles decided to show up for the release party. There were lines and lines of people waiting to get into the Inn, making Stiles think this was probably going to be a _terrible_ idea. But, someone was calling out his username as he approached the inn. She was in simple robes, nothing like most of the characters, but her bouncing name _Admin_ made him think she was just an NPC.

“Hey! You must be Stiles. I'm Laura. Erica put you on the list so..” she led him towards the entrance, sliding him through and into the bowls of the party. Everyone was drinking and eating, talking loudly over each other about what quests they had completed and how they were looking for Dragons to slay.

Stiles really just wanted to be done and log off for the night, when Erica came over.

“Stiles! You came! Hey...” she plopped him down at a table, grinning as Isaac and Boyd joined them. “Isn't this _awesome_? Peter might be a dick, but _damn_ he can throw a party.”

Isaac grinned and ordered them some food. Stiles was really confused as to _why_ all the Beta testers seemed to flock to him. Maybe it was just something they did...

“Welcome, Captain my captain!” Erica said sarcastically as Derek sat down next to them. All of them were wearing normal clothing rather than armor. Derek shot her a look and rolled his eyes as he pulled out his map.

“If we raid toni--”

“Whoa, no. Peter said we could have the night off. We have the night off Derek. Get cyber drunk, go have cyber something, and stop fucking us.” Erica slammed a knife in the map, shaking her head and smiling sweetly.

Stiles never wanted to get on her bad side.

“Erica...” he warned, but Isaac and Boyd were nodding with her. Derek rolled the map back up and leaned back in his chair. “Fine. Go have fun.” Erica smiled wide and grabbed Boyd's hand.

“We will.” she grabbed Isaac too and soon it was just Stiles and Derek sitting at the table. Stiles really didn't want to be there, but Derek looked even sulkier than him. Stiles cleared his throat.

“So, your uh, Profile name is from Norse Mythology, right? Loki's son?” Derek turned to him and rose a brow.

“Swamp Wolf, yes.” Derek said, but Stiles scoffed. “What?”

“Uh, the literal translation is something more like 'Wolf of Hell'. If you wanted Swamp Wolf it should--” he stopped, the man giving him a blank stare that Stiles couldn't read. It was probably just the game unable to read his emotion. “So, Erica says you can get drunk in game?”

Derek nodded ordering two flagons and chugging his down. Stiles looked over the other flagon, the an pushing it towards Stiles.

“It'll give you the buzz with none of the hang over. Laura thought it was 'inventive'.” he ordered another one, the flagon just magically filling with more. Stiles drank his down, groaning slightly as he felt it hit him. Derek let out a snort as he drank his third one.

“You're an elf. You have low constitution so you'll get drunk faster.” he explained, making Stiles groan once more.

“If I would have known I would have been a fucking Orc.” he sipped the second flagon, shaking his head and closing his eyes.

“Right.” they were quiet for a moment, Stiles not sure if Derek was actually enjoying the conversation or putting up with him because he was here.

“So, uh, what's it like to be an Alpha?” Stiles asked, shifting a little. “I mean, I've been trying to be a Beta for years for these kinds of games, but all of them are closed? So it's really--”

“Boring. Alpha's don't get to have as much freedom as Betas. We have to systematically pull out everything we can use or what's working, while Betas just test the ranking systems and the battle sequences. They have fun.” Stiles rose a brow, looking over the man and shrugging.

“Well, you look like you have fun.” Stiles said half sarcastically, though Derek must have realized this.

“I just want to play the game.” Stiles was a little taken aback. If _he_ was a beta tester... he sighed rolling his eyes. The game was out of Beta, so there was no hope for him. This time.

“I can see that. But, to me? Being a part of creating something this... _Amazing_ is pretty lucky.” he finished the flagon and stretched a little. “Well, I'm probably going to log off, I told my dad I would mow the lawn in the morning and I think I have to return some library books.” he hummed thinking about all the mundane chores he would have to do when Derek handed him something.

He blinked, grabbing the small hollographic card and tilted his head.

“What is it?” Derek rolled his eyes, taking the card and opening Stiles' inventory. He quickly attached it to the armor and nodded.

“Now you'll be able to see when one of us are online. If you want to be a tester so bad, be one.” and Derek stood up and walked towards the back of the Inn. Stiles quickly opened his main screen, looking through the lists of things until he reached ' _New Invitation!'_ He quickly opened the file and a small screen biped up.

_You have been invited to join the guild Hale-Hounds. Do you accept?_

“Oh my god. This... oh my GOD.” he clicked yes faster than he thought possible and suddenly his gamer profile popped up.

_Stiles Stilinski, 18, Omega Tester. Race: Half-Elf, Class: Mage, Guild: Hale-Hounds._

“Oh my god.” he said again, quickly logging off and pulling the helmet off so he could text Scott normaly.

**DUDE. I'm an Omega Tester for World of Fantasy Online!-Stiles**

_**Stiles. It's four in the morning. Go to bed.-Scott** _

**You don't understand! Derek.Fucking.Hale was the one who invited me!-Stiles**

_**Isn't he the guy who competes in Star Craft 2 tournies?-Scott** _

**Whoa, maybe... I don't know... All I know is, he met Peter Jackson.-Stiles.**

_**Stiles. Please. I'm sure you and your friend will find hundreds of Dragons tomorrow. -Scott** _

**Alright... get your beauty sleep, hot shot-Stiles.**

He flopped back on his bed, humming to himself as he thought about how super amazing this was going to be. His helmet buzzed, making him groan as he shoved the helmet on for a moment to read his messages.

_I'm going to bed. We're going to help our newest member reach Level 50 tomorrow, so all of you better be there. @BigBadStiles tell us when you're online. -D._

He felt his body swell with pride that Derek would even consider helping him get to a higher level. Stiles then did the math, he was level 20 now, so he had to gain 30 levels in one day?

Suddenly he was nervous.


	3. Better Than A Real World Quest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three chapters? One day? Can it be done?? Yes.

Stiles wasn't kidding about the real world chores, he had promised to mow the lawn and go shopping, but he wanted to play almost as soon as he woke up.He knew it was probably because he was a member of Derek's guild and absolutely nothing to do with Derek himself.

Nothing at all.

So this was why Stiles was trying to finish up his chores as soon as possible. His dad was a little wary about how much time he was spending in the virtual world, but he really couldn't talk with all the extra hours he was putting in at the Sheriff's station. They still had Sunday dinners together, which was good enough for them.

He raced up the stairs, two at a time, and slid into his bed before grabbing his helmet. He slid the station on, relaxing back and smiling.

“Start Game.” he was in the Rendezvous Inn, the last place he logged out, and quickly opened up his friends list to see who was online. Funny, though, the only person on was Derek. He sighed, sending him a quick ping.

[BigBadStiles] says: Hey, online.

[Fenrisulfr] says: E&B out, I AFK. WRU?

[BigBadStiles] says: Whoa, terrible texting. I'm at the Rendezvous Inn.

[Fenrisulfr] says: IDGAF. OMW.

Stiles closed the chat window and sure enough, Derek walked through the door in his black armor and leaned on the bar next to Stiles.

“Ready?” he asked, making Stiles blink.

“Wait, hold on. I thought you said we were going to get me to level 50 today. That's... 30 levels. You can't do that in one day.” Derek rose a brow slowly, looking over Stiles.

“Yes you can.” with a small pop they were out of the inn and in a location Stiles had only heard about through the game reviews. “We're going to fight a dragon.”

Stiles' eyes widened as he ran to follow after Derek.

“Uh, aren't dragons like... level 100?” he asked hesitantly, looking over the small lava pools and the bones of 'fallen heroes'. He knew they were just graphics to make it seem realistic, but he was terrified.

“They were buffed last minute, they are 130 now.” Derek said calmly, stepping over a pile of bones that seemed too realistic to only be CGI.

“Oh, wonderful! So, doesn't that mean the _challenge_ rating is level 130?” Derek paused for a minute, blinking and then turning to Stiles. His face looked concerned, like he just realized Stiles was a lower-level character.

“Oh my god! You are so-- Annoying.” he turned around again, his face breaking character for a brief second as a large smile crossed his face. Stiles let out a distressed noise as he walked up beside him.

“I saw that. You aren't fooling me.” Derek let the smile slide off his face as he paused for a moment. Stiles turned around, looking over the barren land behind them and frowning. “What is it?”

“IT'S ERICA!” the girl shouted, jumping out from behind a rock and making Stiles let out a shout before falling back on his ass. She snorted, grabbing him and pulling him up. “Sorry dude, couldn't resist.”

Isaac and Boyd walked over as well, the two of them shaking their heads and suppressing laughter. Derek however was looking angry at her, his eyes narrowing.

“That wasn't funny. Erica, we're in the Dragon's nest. You know that if we make too much--” there was a roar, a deafening sound that shook Stiles to his core. “He'll wake up and we'll loose our advantage. Great, thanks Erica.”

Stiles was glad Derek didn't blame him, he was a little worried about this battle after all.

“Ok, stay in formation. Boyd, you protect Stiles. Isaac, I need you to set traps around the typical places the Dragon lurks and then use your bow. Erica, heals. Focus on healing Stiles. He needs the last hit if he's going to level up. Stiles, just shoot--” the dragon burst from the ground, wings unfurling and massive head shaking out the dirt clumps.

The scales started out deeper red with a glossy texture until it reached the stomach where they were a smooth, dull finish. As the dragon grew closer, Stiles could see the scales were large, thick, and looked as strong as metal. The neck frill and wings were an ash blue toward the edges, becoming darker as they moved in. The dragon had eyes that rooked like molten lava orbs as he swept over the party.

“Frost Ray! Shoot Frost ray!” Erica finished, the roar erupting over their conversation as he threw his head back and shot a spray of fire in Derek's direction. The man rolled out from under the attack, pulling out his sword that looked too big to be called a sword. Too big, too heavy, and too rough. It was more like a large chunk of iron had been smelted to a handle and then _given_ to him.

He would have to ask about it when he wasn't trying to stay alive against a fire-breathing dragon. Boyd stood over him with a tower shield, smiling as he did.

“Can you cast spells around it?” he asked, the dragon blowing fire at them now as Derek and Isaac finagled their way to the sides of the dragon and were slowly hacking away at him. Stiles nodded, reading his spells and shooting off his first wave of Frost ray. The Dragon bellowed as the magic shot up his mouth and froze his flames for three seconds, long enough for Derek to get an attack on the head.

Stiles was cowering behind the shield, a little sad that Boyd wouldn't get to do anything, when he watched the man pull our a crossbow and balance it on the shield.

“Don't worry about me, just keep shooting at it.” Stiles nodded, licking his lips as he continued to shoot off his spells at the dragon.

“He's at 50% health!” Erica stated, moving between Derek and Isaac as she simply tapped them on the shoulder and their bodies looked good as new. “Three more head strikes and a Frost Ray should kill him.”

“Tell me when he's at 3%!” Derek called back, the Dragon's wing attempting to knock him off balance. Derek flipped, leaving his huge sword buried in the ground and let out a roar of his own. Teeth grew as well as fangs and the black armor melted into fur. Derek stood as a huge, wolf-like creature, slashing at the Dragons face while he was stunned.

“10% Boyd!” Erica called, the man putting his crossbow away and walking forward. “5%!”

“Alright, now all you have to do is take this and stab him.” Boyd handed him a small dagger, Derek backing off the Dragon and Isaac falling behind a rock formation.

“3%!” she shouted, “Go, go Stiles!” he let out a squeak, rushing forward and plunging the knife into the Dragon's eye. He let out a death call, his neck flopping around for a few more seconds before he fell still. Stiles took a deep, calming breath as he looked over the corpse of the Dragon.

“That... was... AWESOME!” he shouted, pumping his arms in the air. “Take that! That was for Scott!” Stiles screamed at it, but the nose twitched one final time and fire shot out, making Stiles jump in the air and into Boyd's arms. The man chuckled, putting him down and nodding to the dragon.

“Let's get the loot and go home, I'm thinking about spending my money on a new shield.” they walked forward, grabbing the loot and experience points with their profile name on it. Stiles was amazed at how much cool stuff you got from killing _one_ dragon. Not to mention how many levels he gained.

Derek was making room in his inventory for some dragon scales when Stiles approached him, looking over the sword.

“That thing is huge!” Stiles informed him, making Derek look up and frown. “How big is it?”

“Seven feet, four inches.” he said, still sorting out his inventory. “It's the sword you get after defeating fifty dragons and smelting their scales down.” Stiles let his mouth hang open as Derek finished making room and dumping his extra stuff into Stiles'.

“Fifty. You're defeated fifty dragons?” Stiles asked, trotting behind him as the rest of the party regrouped. Derek shook his head.

“No, it's more like two hundred now.” and they teleported.

After the battle, the party split up to do their own things. Isaac went to get new armor at the blacksmith while Boyd and Erica went to sell their old stuff. Stiles didn't know exactly what to do, so Derek let him trail behind him. They went to the pawn broker, traded in everything Derek and Stiles didn't need, then Derek went to the armory to have some made for Stiles.

“I'm a mage, mages don't _use_ armor.” Stiles said, crossing his arms as Derek began trading in the raw materials.

“This armor you can. It's designed for party mages.” he finished counting out the gold and threw the new armor over to Stiles. “It only gives you a defensive boost when you aren't casting spells unless you are with a party member who is wearing the same.” Derek pointed to his armor.

“So, dude! This is like, really expensive...” Stiles muttered, looking over the shimmering black robes that looked so flimsy. But, then again, so was Mithril.

“The guild is only as strong as it's weakest member.” he said firmly, looking over Stiles. “And, that's you.”

“Way to inspire confidence, Sour wolf.” he rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I mean swamp wolf.” Derek growled a little, but it seemed to be all fun.

“I'll give you that one.” he said lightly, “But don't call me that in front of Erica. She'll never let it go.” Stiles snorted, crossing his heart.

“One time thing, I swear it won't be a habit.” he thought he saw Derek's face fall slightly, but it must have been lag or something. Because seriously, being called names isn't fun.

Stiles knows.

“Good.” Derek said finally, leading him out of the shop and into the streets. “You should do some fetch quests. The experience won't be much, but you're still pretty low on basic supplies that will be needed.” Derek pointed to the tavern and led Stiles there.

“So, then you going to go off and do whatever it is you need to do?” he asked, hoping that wasn't the case. Derek was actually alright, he listened to Stiles talk and it wasn't like he _had_ to actually listen. But he would...

Which was cool.

“No, I don't have anything. If you don't mind I would like to see the lower-levels...” Stiles smiled a little at him, nodding.

“Sure, sure.” they ended up going on a fetch quest for the inn keeper which would take them a couple hours in game to actually complete. Stiles was kind of excited to be around Derek for that long. So of course Scott had to text him.

**_Dude, are you battling any dragons yet? LOL-Scott_ **

“I hate that function.” Derek growled a little, turning away from Stiles. “It ruins the ambiance.” Stiles felt guilty, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, sorry. I told Scott that I would text him back so--”

“Whatever.” Derek walked a head of Stiles and the boy slumped his shoulders. Maybe he should turn that function off if it was going to piss Derek off so much. Stiles stopped, frowning a little as he shook his head. He shouldn't do things to please Derek just because he was the guild master!

**Just defeated my first one! I told him “My name is Stiles Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” Oh, and something about you ;)-Stiles.**

**_I'm so touched. Tell your guild I said hi! Oh, and Mom says she wants you to mow our lawn too and she'll make you those cookies you love.-Scott_**

**Deal. I'm so gonna get fat.-Stiles.**

Derek was pretty far a head of him now forcing Stiles to run so that he would be in stride with him. The man seemed to be out of his talking mood now, however, and was walking in stony silence for what felt like hours.

“Was that your brother?” he asked finally. “Did your mom need you to do something--” Stiles shook his head, shoving his hands in the tunic.

“No no, well... Kinda. Scott's my brother but not by blood? See when my mom died--” Derek sucked in a breath, shaking his head.

“You don't hav--”

“no no! It's well I mean... It's cool, I trust you.” Derek was quiet for a moment, looking over Stiles slowly and frowning.

“You don't know me. The only thing you know is my name and what my Avatar looks like.” he pointed out, the two of them standing still in the middle of the road.

“Uh, so? Do you really need to know someone to open up to them?” Stiles asked, shrugging. “It's not like I'm giving you my social security number or my address. I'm just telling you about my mom.”

Derek was quiet still, shifting from foot to foot as he looked over towards the direction they were going.

“Still. It's personal.” Stiles nodded, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, but that _my_ choice to talk about it with who _I_ want to, right? Because it's personal to me?” Derek huffed rolling his eyes.

“Don't. Because if you tell me something personal then I'll feel like I have to tell _you_ something.” Stiles was now bursting with curiosity, wanting to know exactly what Derek would tell him.

“Alright, alright... how about, two truths and a lie? That way you can lie all the time and I won't know.” Derek thought about it for a moment.

“You go first.” Stiles nodded, thinking about all the things he could learn from this. Or not, depending on how Derek wanted to go with it.

“Ok, so. My dad is the Sheriff, I'm an only child, and my girlfriend's name is Lydia.” Derek was deep in thought, walking down the road once more as he hummed.

“Your dad isn't the sheriff.” Derek guessed. Stiles snorted.

“Nope, it's the girlfriend. She's just the girl I used to be obsessed over until I found video games and my life was completely ruined.” Derek frowned a little looking over him.

“So, do you have a girlfriend?” Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Nope. And no boyfriend either. I'm one of those people who just... never dated. _Ever._ Your turn.” the older man thought for a moment, turning down the road they needed to be on and shrugged.

“My favorite food is pasta, I'm a vegetarian, and I don't like mushrooms.” Stiles rose a brow and snorted.

“Someone likes food.” Derek huffed a little, rolling his eyes. Stiles thought for a moment, eyeing him up and down. “You aren't a vegetarian, which is a sad day because mushrooms are _amazing_ on pizza.” Derek gave him a face and rolled his eyes.

“Most mushrooms in the world are poisonous and offer no nutritional value. There is no _point_ to eating them.” the man pointed out, turning them into the town they were going through. Stiles shook his head.

“They texture! Dude, it's like... I can't even. It's really good. Trust me.” he smiled a little, looking at the in game clock and sighing. “Alright, I'm an actually very shy person, my favorite movie is Star Wars, and my favorite food is curly fries.”

“You? Shy? I have a hard time believing that...” Derek smiled, genuinely smiled at Stiles and the teen felt his heart flutter.

_Calm down, Stiles. It's just CGI. He probably doesn't even look like that._

“Your turn.” Stiles urged, though they had stopped at the tavern for the moment. He didn't want the conversation to end, but he knew he should be getting to bed if he was going to get up and mow the McCall's lawn in the morning. Derek looked him over slowly, his eyes gazing over the teen.

“My only relationship ended in the near destruction of my family's company, I haven't left the house in five years, and I know who you really are.” Stiles lifted a brow. None of these things seemed like good things to be the truth, so he chose the worst.

“The relationship one.” Stiles guessed, biting his lip as he watched Derek's face give off the unreadable look once more.

“I have no idea who you really are. Good night, Stiles.” and Derek's character was gone.

  
  



	4. Just A Click Away Night Or Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> General note, the 'loading' symbol is the transition to the next scene. Sorry for the confusion.

Stiles was a naturally curious guy, so of course when Derek told him about the relationship ending badly, he decided to look it up on the internet. It wasn't long until he stumbled upon a news article from six years ago.

**Hale Industries sued by Argent Games**

He paused, quickly looking up Argent Games and seeing they were mostly First Person Shooter games, including the most popular one Wolf Hunter Online. Stiles went back to the article, quickly scanning over the massive amounts of background he didn't really need.

**Hale Industries announced their release of** _**Pack Mentality** _ **for this summer at E3, making Argent Games furious.**

**“We have been working on W.H.O for** _**five** _ **years and the Hales think they can just call it something else and we won't notice?” Gerard Argent, CEO, is quoted saying outside E3. Kate Argent, the inventor of Wolf Hunter Online, agreed.**

**“I was dating Derek Hale in hopes to unite our companies, but when I showed him our programming for W.H.O, he stole it and brought it to** _**his** _ **company.”**

**Derek Hale, who has not been seen since this alleged claim, had nothing to say on the matter. Hale Industries lost this legal war and payed out $2.3 billion dollars to Argent Games, setting the company into possible bankruptcy.**

**Only time will tell if Hale Industries can recover from this financial blow.**

Stiles closed his eyes and frowned. He didn't know what really went down, if anything he was more likely to believe anything _Derek_ told him over the internet. Stiles rolled his eyes, grabbing his phone and quickly shooing off a text to Scott.

**Can I borrow Wolf Hunter Online?-Stiles.**

_**Did you get bored of Hale games already?!-Scott** _

**No, I just want to check something. Can I borrow the game or not?-Stiles.**

_**Uh, sure. Should be in my room-Scott.** _

Stiles slid out from his desk, running down the stairs and down the street to Scott's. He rummaged through the games and pulled out the older computer game. It had been pretty popular when Stiles was in High School, but Stiles had always been a Hale Industries man so he never really picked up Argent games. Scott was in love with them so the two would always fight over which system was better.

He ran back home, installing the computer game and creating a basic character. It was a simple premise, Werewolves had invaded your town and it was up to you to hunt them down and avenge your family. He was alright with the whole shooting and hunting, though he felt guilty every time he passed a level that he was spending time on this game rather on WoF.

But, finally he reached the point he wanted to be on. The large scene in the middle of the forest. He paused the game at almost every point and looked around the scenery for something...

Stiles smiled, looking over the tree on the left hand side. It was small, of course, so no one would notice it unless they were looking for it. But Stiles, being the nosy little person he was, recognized it.

The small heart carved in the tree with the initials L.H marking Laura's work. It was all over World of Fantasy, Stiles noticed it on _everything_ including buildings. Laura was proud of her work. Stiles sighed logging off the game and crawling over to his bed. He grabbed the helmet and shoved it on.

“Start Game.” He found himself in the tavern where Derek logged off the night before, the man sitting there with a blank expression on his face. Stiles took a step forward, clearing his throat.

“So, uh, we gonna finish that quest tonight?” Derek looked up, a smile crossing his face.

“I thought I scared you off last night.” Stiles rolled his eyes, waving his hand around.

“It takes a lot more than that to scare me off. I'm a pretty tough dude.”

“I'm beginning to see that. C'mon. You took forever so we have to hurry.”

They ended up meeting the rest of the group in the Rendezvous Inn once again, Erica wanting to go on a higher level quest now that Stiles was level 50. Derek agreed and soon they were on their way to the Looping Plains. Stiles wanted to talk about the whole Wolf Hunter Online thing, but he felt like Derek wanted the subject dropped.

“You are quiet today, cat got your tongue?” Erica asked, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and grinning. Stiles shrugged a little, looking over to Derek and Isaac who were arguing over what quest they were going to do.

“No, just thinking.” Erica frowned a little and stopped them so she could look him in the eyes.

“About...” Stiles didn't know if he could talk about it since he didn't know exactly how much Erica knew or how much Derek told her. Besides, it was private and Stiles didn't want to betray Derek's trust. He must have been looking at Derek because a grin slid over her face.

“About Derrrreeeekkk” she stretched his name as she winked. “Mmm yeah. He's something else.” she was quiet for a little as Stiles continued to stay silent. Finally she got it.

“He talked about Kate, huh? That bitch.” Erica sat on a rock and patted the one next to her for him. “See, he met her online. In a game like this... I think it was World of Warcraft, back when he was trying to play every game that wasn't his family's...” she shrugged a little. “Anyway, they got to talking and she was 'perfect'. Smart, funny, very open and honest about everything with him. Something he thought he would love to be with. So they did, like in real life. She came up to New York and they...”

Erica rolled her eyes. “Whatever, so he was showing her around the studio, and he showed the new game he had made. It was all about being a werewolf and having to find the alpha who bit you while making friends with the local people... it was a team building MMO.”

“Which turned into Wolf Hunter Online.” Stiles filled in. “Kate stole it from Derek and...”

“And broke his heart. So, he doesn't trust _anyone_ unless he's met them in real life. And since he never goes out of his house...” she pointed around the Betas. “It's us and his family. It was a real miracle he even _let_ you into our guild.” she smiled “I think it was because Isaac--” she stopped, her eyes widening and shaking her head. “Ok, let's go.”

Stiles made a noise of protest, but Erica was already running up to catch up with Derek. He sighed, running a hand through his hair and racing to catch up with them.

“So, what are we hunting?” Derek looked up, smiling wide.

“Giants.”

“GIANTS?!” Stiles called from the massive crater where the giant had flung him into the ground moments ago. He had barely survived the attack and even with all of Erica's healing he knew he couldn't take another one. “Seriously?! I think you just want to _kill_ me!”

“Imagine what I could do with all the silence!” the man shot back, giving a shit-eater grin to Stiles and _winking_ at him. Stiles couldn't tell if Derek was threatening him or flirting with him.

He'd take flirting, flirting was good.

“Yeah, you'd probably have to start talking to yourself to fill the void. You'd miss me far too much.” Stiles retorted, standing up and brushing himself off before casting magic missal. Derek was closer now, pulling back his bow and shooting the giant in the head.

“You're right. The void would be impossible to fill.” Derek knocked another arrow and sent it flying. “But, I think I'd live.”

“Would you two stop flirting?! Seriously, it's bad enough that Erica and Boyd do it.” Isaac shot back, sliding under the giant and cutting the Achilles tendon on the beast. It roared, sending the club down and shaking the earth around them.

“It's not flirting.” Derek grumbled, sending another arrow into the giant's eye. “It's playful banter.”

“To-may-to, to-ma-to, same thing Der-Bear” Erica said from her perch, sliding down and touching both Derek and Stiles to heal them. “The sooner you two admit this tension, the sooner I can get my +6 Dexterity belt.” Stiles blinked.

“Wait what?” he sent another volley of missals, rolling out of the way as the giant walked forward, trying to grab him.

“Never mind them! Just keep shooting!” Derek growled, rolling out of the way as he took a tumble into a small ditch. Stiles quickly shot another missal and the beast let out a groan before collapsing to the ground. Stiles let out a whoop of joy and danced around a bit.

“Who's bad? I'm bad! Who's good? I'm good! Who rocks?”

“You rock!” Erica finished the song, dancing with Stiles. “Dude, amazing. We took down four giants in twenty minutes! That's our new record!” she grinned as the loot appeared, Derek standing up from the ditch and brushing himself off.

“Alright. Gather the loot and then take a break. We've been playing four straight hours and you all need to eat.” Derek looked over the group, pointing to Isaac. “And take a nap.”

Isaac grumbled but agreed, grabbing the loot and logging off. Soon everyone was gone except Stiles and Derek.

“You need to ge--”

“It's fine. I'm on Adderall so I'm not tired or anything and it suppresses my appetite. I was thinking about just doing some simple Blacksmith quests. Nothing too hard...”

Derek looked him over slowly, frowning a little. Stiles paused, seeing that Derek really was concerned for him.

“Look, here.” he pulled out a dog tag and inserted his cell number before handing it to Derek.“That's my IRL number. You can text me when the next raid is ok? Then I won't miss out.” Derek stared at the tag for a moment, not sure what to do with it. Stiles grabbed the loot, shoved it into his inventory and saluted.

“Catch you later, Sour wolf.” and as he logged off, he swore he saw Derek smile.

Stiles eventually did take a nap, mostly because he vegged out on the couch with Ms. McCall's cookies and re-runs of Stargate SG1, but partly because he had been up since six this morning. It was around seven in the evening when his phone went off. Not for a text, but for a phone call.

Stiles blinked in confusion as he looked it over. _No one_ called anymore, it was usually only his dad or the station if they did. But this was a number he didn't recognize. Half-asleep, Stiles answered the phone.

“H-hello?” he asked, there was a pause and finally a voice broke through the silence.

“I'm looking for Stiles?” Stiles blinked a little, nodding slowly.

“This is he? Who are you?” there was a pause.

“This is Derek. Derek Hale.” Stiles sat up, looking over the phone and feeling his heart beat faster.

“Oh, hey dude. Sorry about that. I'm still a little tired from my nap. What's up?”

“I thought I would let you know the rest of the guild is online...” Derek trailed off, the sound of something in the background beeping distracting him.

“Oh right. It's just, normally people don't call. They text or something...” Stiles was stretching off the couch and padding into the kitchen to get a glass of water before he went under the helmet again.

“Why not? What's wrong with calling?” Stiles downed the glass and shrugged.

“I dunno, too personal?” there was a huff on the other end and Stiles didn't know how to read it.

“Yeah, but that's   _my_  choice. Because it's personal to me” Derek shot back making Stiles choke on his water.

“Dude, you stole my line... bastard.” he found it easy to talk to Derek, they did spend hours doing it in game so why not out of game too?

“Yes well, if you won't listen to my advise, maybe you'll take your own. So, we're going to go on a raid. If you wanted to join us.” Stiles was already half way up the stairs.

“Sounds like a plan. See you there, Sour wolf.” Derek let out a chuckle that nearly made Stiles stop in his scaling of the stairs.

“Sure, sounds great.” and when they had hung up, the warm feeling of Derek's actual voice stayed in Stiles stomach.


	5. Go To Hell Real Life, I’ll Punch You In The Face!

 “Holy hell, you guys! Have you seen the new DLC-- Wait, don't answer that. Of course you have.” three weeks into the game, Stiles came bursting into the Rendezvous Inn holding an announcement from Hale Industries about the updates coming tomorrow. Erica looked up, tilting her head as Isaac yawned.

“That's one of the older patches too. We're going to start working on 4.6 today.” Stiles blinked a little.

“But this is version 4.0. Are you serious? Do the Hales just breathe out ideas?” he turned to ask Derek finding he wasn't there. He frowned a little, wondering where the man might be when Boyd spoke up.

“Derek had to go to a meeting at Hale Industries. He'll be home later.” they were reading through the map in front of them that had four new areas. “So, for now, we're all supposed to check out the new maps.” he threw Stiles something that looked like a bone key.

“What's this?” he asked, frowning as he looked it over.

“It's a skeleton key. It will get you into any of the servers that are currently under construction. You just have to put the server key in and you're good to go.” Stiles let out a noise of disbelief, looking at the key as if it was made of solid gold.

“Oh. My. God.” he muttered, shoving it into his inventory. “This is the best day EVER!” he smiled as Erica grinned.

“We're thinking of going into the preserve today if you want to?” Stiles nodded firmly, strapping his staff to his back.

“Hell yes, I'm going to kick so much ass!” he looked over his armor, frowning a little. “I should probably switch though, this armor only protects me if Derek's around.” Erica's eyes shot up and her mouth dropped.

“I've been _begging_ Derek to make me a set of those! How the hell did you convince him?!” Stiles frowned, looking over the armor and shrugging.

“Derek just gave it to me. He used my materials and stuff so it's not--”

“That armor isn't available yet. Not even for Beta testers. Cora only programed it for Derek. He _was_ going to give us all some...” Isaac started, looking over Stiles slowly. “But, I guess he had a better idea for it.”

Stiles flushed a little, running his hands through his hair. “He said he didn't want me to die all the time.” Erica was thoughtful, looking over him slowly.

“Yeah, that's probably it. It's not like Derek would do something _nice_ for someone for a completely different reason.” Stiles nodded in agreement, Isaac and Boyd as well. Erica rolled her eyes and smacked them all on the heads.

“Sometimes men are so _STUPID!_ ” she stomped out of the inn and left the three boys in confusion.

They had been wandering around the preserve for a couple hours, enjoying the easy monsters and simple forest-like setting. Stiles and Isaac were sent off to explore one side while Boyd and Erica made-out. At least that was what Isaac was grumbling about as they cut through the foliage. Stiles didn't really care, he enjoyed walking around without having to worry about actually tripping and falling to his death.

“Dude, did they make edible plants?” Stiles asked, walking forward to the large bunches of grapes hanging around. “This looks so--”

“Stiles! That's--” but it was too late, the vines whipped around Stiles' legs, flinging him in the air and slowly constricting around his legs, torso, arms. He struggled, making the vines only tighter.

“That's an assassin vine.” Isaac finished, looking over it and huffing. “It says here...consists of a main vine, about 20 feet long. Smaller vines up to 5 feet long branch off from the main vine about every 6 inches. These small vines bear clusters of leaves, and in late summer they produce bunches of small fruits that resemble wild grapes. The fruit is tough and has a hearty but bitter flavor. Assassin vine berries make a heady wine.” he held up the small plant book his class came with and flipped through the pages.

“Oh, great. I've always _wanted_ to be killed by a giant plant. What is it waiting for?” Isaac flipped through his book, humming lightly.

“Well, it says it would kill you in seconds. But this must be glitching. It's not crushing every bone in your body. It's just kinda... Tying you up.” Stiles' eyes widened as he looked behind Isaac.

“Dude, I don't think these are the main vine...” he nodded behind Isaac where a huge vine was slowly growing out of the ground. “Isaac, I think--”

“OH MY GOD! Sorry Stiles! See you at your re-spawn point!” and Isaac turned around and ran. Stiles tried to wiggle out of the vines, which only made them tighter around him. He tried using his magic, but the plant seemed to be immune to _FIRE_.

“Thanks guys! Real nice. Leave the squishy mage to--” there was the sound of growling and a black wolf ran out slashing at the huge vine. It let out a wail, dropping Stiles onto the ground and making him swallow dirt. “Ug, ew.” the vines slowly retreated into the ground, leaving Stiles to pick himself up.

“You ok?” Derek asked, walking closer to Stiles and slowly letting his wolf form melt. Stiles nodded, trying to spit out the huge chunk of dirt before trying to talk.

“Yeah, thanks.” he stretched a little and looked over to where Isaac had ran off to. “How'd you know I was in trouble?” Derek wasn't paying attention though, his eyes were looking around the forest as he frowned. “Uh, Derek?”

“Shut up.” he growled, listening to the forest when suddenly a creature pounced on Derek. It looked like a brown and greenish lizard with a long lanky tail, four legs all with oozing claws pinning Derek to the ground. A gaping maw lined with rows of teeth were gnashing at his face, making it impossible for him to hold it off and attack.

“Kill it! Stiles!” Stiles made a squawk, grabbing for his daggers and slamming them deep into the creatures back. It screamed, rearing it's head back and turning around before going to attack Stiles. He dropped the knife, casting fire breath on the beast and hoping that this one could be hurt. The creature screamed, running off into the forest and leaving them alone.

“Dude, did you see that?! I was like AH! And it was like EEK! And then--” he paused, Derek's eyes wide as Stiles slowly turned behind him. “Oh COME ON!” hundreds of those creatures were slowly running out of the forest, all of them gnashing their teeth in anger.

“Run” Derek grabbed Stiles, throwing him onto his shoulder fireman style and rushing out back towards the rest of the guild.

“Derek... Derek they are getting closer! Derek, run faster!” Stiles was tapping him on the back as the creatures tripped over each other trying to get to them. He laughed as they stopped, one of the creatures actually _eating_ the others. But for every creature he ate, the bigger he got until he was a human sized snake-lizard. “HOLY FUCK! HOLY!” Stiles squirmed, the creature letting out a huge bellow and jumping from tree to tree to catch them.

Derek managed to get them out of the forest and into base camp when the creature roared again and started to circle them.

“Uh, Isaac. Now might be a good time to look in your Pokédex and tell us what the hell that thing is!” Stiles shouted, Derek putting him down and drawing his weapons. Isaac flipped through the book, scanning down the lists of new creatures.

“Did it consume it's young in order to--”

“YES!” Derek and Stiles said together, Boyd putting his shield in the ground and pointing the crossbow at the creature.

“Ok, it's called a Kanima. It is... like a werewolf that it has a weakness to silver and it has...” Isaac looked up, frowning as he looked the creature over. “Paralytic ooze in it's claws and mouth... also...” he handed the book over so Derek and Stiles could look over the image. “That's just the baby. The adult looks like this.”

“That has _wings_ ” Derek pointed out, his face growing pale.

“Dude look, there's an animation.” Stiles pointed out, pressing the pages of the book. “I bet it looks less frightening--” the book let out a terrible wailing, Stiles making his own scream.

“Nope, nope! Shut the book!” they closed it quickly, all of them now faced with the monster. “Who the _hell_ comes up with this SHIT?” Stiles asked, readying his spell. The creature slashed at them, before jumping up on a low branch and hissed.

“Ok, the portal out of here is just through there.” Derek pointed in the direction they needed to go. “We just... have to run past him.”

Stiles shot him a look and rolled his eyes.

“Right, that's _all_ we have to do. We need a distraction, someone who can run up there and wave themselves around like a big, juicy-- what? Why is everyone--” they were all looking at Stiles, Derek raising a brow and sending him a small smile.

“I knew we could count on you. I believe in you.” he pushed Stiles towards the monster, making the teenager grumble.

“Yeah, well, if I die, I'm going to kill you and take your experience points...” he walked to the edge of the tree line where the beast was, waving at him. “Hi, Mr. Uh, Kanima. Look, see all this lean meat? Mmmh yeah, just come bite off a piece of this...” he slapped the side of his leg a little too hard and winced at the pain.

“Ow, oh see? Tender...” the Kanima looked like he was intrigued, his eyes looking over Stiles' body like it was a feast. “Yeah, come and get me!” the Kanima jumped down, making Stiles scream and run across the field away from him.

“I DON'T WANNA DIE!” he shouted, running past Derek and the group as the monster began chasing him. Erica let out a huge laugh, looking over them and shaking her head.

“Run, Stiles, Run!” she shouted, making Stiles flick her off as he weaved through the grass trying to make it harder for the monster to catch him.

“I HATE YOU ALL!” he screamed back as the Kanima reached forward and tried to grapple him. Derek however jumped in and slammed his sword into the monster's back, throwing it to the ground and grinning.

“See? All we needed was a distraction.” Stiles was livid and all he could think to do was tackle the man into the ground.

“You stupid! Ah! I was so fucking scared!” he wrestled the man as he tried to pin him down, Derek snorting and throwing him off and tackling Stiles. The teen shrieked, being pinned to the ground and forced to once again eat dirt.

“OK! Ok! I'm sorry! Just seriously!” he tried to wiggle free, though Derek's armor was heavy and making it impossible to move under. He yelped slightly as the hilt of Derek's sword pressed against his spine, making him shiver a little.“I yield! Oh my god! Your sword is like grinding into me!”

Derek got off after a moment, helping him up and brushing himself off. Erica lifted a brow up and watch the two of them.

“Well, I'm going off.” she said, smiling. “I've got a spa morning with Laura and I need beauty sleep.” she motioned for Boyd to follow her lead, but the boy just blinked at her. “Boyd. Didn't Cora want to go over the new layout for the sky world?” Boyd still didn't get it.

“Uh, Erica. The sky world isn't until--” he paused, looking at her. “Oh. Right. Isaac?” the boy had already logged off, making Boyd blush. “See you two tomorrow.” and with a ping Boyd and Erica were gone.

Derek sighed, motioning to the portal. “Did you want to go back to the main map and try a few more quests?” Stiles nodded his head, tugging out a small health potion and sighing. Derek shook his head and pulled out a larger one. “Wanna share?”

“Sure, if you don't mind germs all over the bottle.” Derek let out a chuckle, downing half the bottle and then handing the other half to Stiles.

“If they're yours I'm alright with it.” Stiles felt his heart skip a beat and he downed the potion. He knew it was probably just a friendly thing to say, like how he and Scott share food and soda all the time. Friends do that.

They were friends.

“Hey, uh. Derek?” Stiles asked as they walked their way to the portal. Derek turned, cocking a brow and frowning. “Are you and I like... friends?” he asked, hesitant as Derek was quiet for a long moment. Of course the sound of Stiles' alarm would have to break the moment.

“Sorry! Oh god, I have to go. It's sunday night and my dad and--”

“It's ok. Go.” Derek urged, Stiles nodded and logged off. He took the helmet off, fixing up his hair and ran down the stairs so he could start dinner. A few minutes after he started boiling the water, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Stiles reached in and smiled as he saw the text.

**Yeah. We're friends, Stiles.-Derek.**

**Dude, awesome. Don't miss me too bad when I'm gone!-Stiles**

**I'm counting down the seconds until you return ;)-Derek**

Stiles bit his lip, looking over the text multiple times before starting a new text to Scott.

**I think I have a crush on my Guild Master.-Stiles**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a Kanima!


	6. If You Think I'm Not The One, Log Off And We'll Be Done

Scott skyped Stiles as soon as Sunday dinner was over to talk about everything.

“So, you have a crush on Derek?” Scott asked, shifting a little on his chair as he looked over the screen. Stiles nodded a little, sighing as he rolled in his chair. “Are we talking crush like Mr. Harris crush? Because--”

“DUDE! I told you to never bring that up! It was freshman year, and before I had the monster as a teacher ok? Just shut up.”

“So... not a Harris crush. Is it a Lydia crush? Where you're just pining over the attraction?” Stiles scrubbed his hands through his hair and shook his head as fast as possible.

“Scott, I've never seen this guy's actual face! I'm crushing on his voice and laugh... and the way he says Stiles...”

“Stiles!”

“Yeah, kinda like that only a little higher--”

“Stiles, seriously. Focus! Otherwise we will be here for hours listening to you moon about some guy you've never met in real life.” Stiles sputtered a little.

“Excuse you, who stood in line for three hours at the movie theater to buy you tickets to see Our Immortal staring Allison Argent? And who listened to you moon about how _perfect_ she was as a human being _all last summer_.” Scott blushed a little, turning away from the camera.

“She _is_ a perfect human being...” Scott mumbled, making Stiles roll his eyes and huff.

“And then there's _this_ asshole...Look, Scott. I know this is a little strange and I mean, yeah it's a little unconventional how we met. But it's not like it's going anywhere! I mean, he's somewhere in New York and doesn't leave the house. I'm here in California, broke and incapable of putting words in a sentence without tripping over myself. Ok? It's just...” he sighed.

“You wanna know what I think?” Scott said softly. “I think you are just.. glorifying him. In the game he's this super hot, amazing, werewolf of a guy when in real life he's probably a fat 25 year old who can't get a girlfriend so he flirts with teenaged boys. I mean, really. What do you know about this guy?”

Stiles thought for a moment, licking his lips and shrugging. “His favorite food is pasta, he hates mushrooms, he's only been in one relationship, and he hasn't left the house in five years because of it.” Stiles stated though when he put it all on the table it really didn't sound like much.

“Right, how do you know any of that is true?” Scott was right. For some reason in heaven, this time Scott was right about everything. He _didn't_ know Derek, in fact, he didn't know _any_ of them. So why was he so trusting? He sighed, looking over to Scott and nodding.

“Maybe I should take a break...” he looked over to the helmet, frowning and sighing. “But, I mean Scott--”

“No.”

“I should at least tell them I--”

“No.” Scott said. “Just take a break. You are a human who has a life out side of the game. They should understand.” he crossed his arms and nodded. “Stiles, just for a week or so. Ok?”

Stiles sighed running a hand through his hair.

“Ok.”

Actually taking a break from the game was a pretty good idea, it gave Stiles time to pick out his classes, buy his books, tour the dorm rooms so that he would know how much shit to _not_ bring to school, and do a bunch of cleaning around the house.

It had been almost two weeks since Stiles had turned on the Hale-station when there was a knock at his door.

“I'll get it.” his dad called, smiling as he looked over himself. “How do I look?” Stiles was about to make a noise of agreement when he narrowed his eyes.

“Why? Are you going on a date?” his dad let out a laugh, shaking his head.

“No, no. Nothing like that. An old friend actually called the other day, asking if it was alright to come over and see me. You used to play with them when you were younger. Moved away right before Scott came.” Stiles made a face, rolling his eyes.

“I would remember someone like that, Dad.” he huffed a little as the sheriff opened the door to reveal a lanky boy with blonde curly hair. He smiled wide at the sheriff and threw his arms around him.

“Sheriff Stilinski!” he cried, hugging him tightly.

“Oh come on, Isaac. You can call me John.” Stiles frowned, blinking as he took a step forward. No, that wasn't-- “and this is my son, Stiles? You remember Stiles right?” Isaac smiled, looking over to him and nodding.

“I remember Stiles.” Isaac said with a bright grin, “In fact, we play online together almost every day!”

Crap.

So yes, Stiles _did_ remember Isaac. But he mostly remembered Camden who would push them both in the mud and call them names. Stiles and 'Zack' as he was called then, would always team up together to take on the older brother. And would then fail miserably and end up right back in the mud.

And now he was sitting at the dinner table eating food _Stiles_ made and talking to _his_ father like they were old friends. Stiles was a little ticked off. When the Sheriff had to finally go to work, leaving Stiles and Isaac alone, he pounced.

“What the hell, man! You can't just _do_ that! And why didn't you tell me that we used to know each other! I shared my cookies with you, Dude. Does that mean NOTHING?” Isaac let out a snort, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Seriously. It meant a whole lot back then. So that's why I totally integrated you into our Guild. I mean, it's a lot better than cookies right?” Stiles had to agree that it was, but still. He crossed his arms and huffed.

“Still. You never told me you knew me in real life. If I would have known that I--” Isaac looked over him slowly, eyes narrowing.

“You... what? Wouldn't have stopped playing and made our guild leader turn into a sulking five-year-old who got his favorite toy taken away.” Stiles rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“I highly doubt--”

“Dude. Seriously. Why the hell would I fly _all_ the way to Beacon Hills California to tell you this? Derek has your number, I've seen him looking at it like a _million_ times while we were out of game. It's like he wants to call you but he's too much of a chicken to do it!”

Stiles swallowed a little, looking over him and frowning.

“I don't know him.” Stiles said simply. “He's a complete stranger who I met online! It's unhealthy for me to have a cru--” he paused, watching as Isaac's eyes lit up brighter. “No, no no... No.. Isaac.... Stop....”

“Come back with me! Come to New York and _talk_ to him! Take him on a date or... or _something_.” Stiles shook his head, running his hands through his hair.

“Dude no. I don't want to...” he paused, swallowing. “I don't want to be a disappointment. Ok? Online I can be funny and charming and not give a fuck what people think. But in real life?” he motioned down to himself. “I'm 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, sarcasm is my _only_ defense.”

Isaac patted him on the shoulder, giving him a smile.

“Trust me, you are exactly what he needs.” Stiles frowned, shaking his head.

“I won't. I won't go to New York, ok? I'll go back to playing the game and... just things will be normal, alright? I can't fly across the country meeting someone online. That's... somewhat crazy.” Isaac was quiet for a little, looking over Stiles.

“So. If I got Derek to fly to you, _then_ would you go on a date?” Stiles huffed.

“Fine. Yes, ok? If you get the guy who hasn't set foot outside his house in five years to knock on my door and ask me out? Yes. I'll go out with him.”

And he should have known with the way Isaac smiled that it was probably a bad promise.

Stiles logged in after Isaac left to go back to New York, he figured it was probably time and he wanted to try out the new DLC. He found himself in the Rendezvous Inn, standing by one of the empty tables and opening up a chat window.

[BigBadStiles] says: Hey, finished up school stuff. Anyone on?

[Fenrisulfr] says: 1393200 seconds. Give or take the few it took me to write it.

[BigBadStiles] says: DUDE. Did you actually _count_ the seconds it took for me to log on?

[Fenrisulfr] says: No. I shoved 16 days 2 hours into google and asked how many.

[BigBadStiles] says: Oh. Well. Sorry it took me so long. I was getting ready for school...

[Fenrisulfr] says: I know, Isaac is going to the same college so he went down for registration too. I get not everyone spends their entire life on the internet. Just wish you would have told us.

[BigBadStiles] says: Right. Next time. So, you wanna do a raid or something? Maybe just a fetch quest? I missed talking with you. :)

[Fenrisulfr] says: I missed talking to you as well, E was driving everyone crazy.

[BigBadStiles] says: I bet. Well, I'm at the Rendezvous Inn if you wanna join me :)

[Fenrisulfr] says: Be there soon, Stiles ;)

And yeah, this was going to be harder than Stiles thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, someone pointed out these:
> 
> Isaac's Avatar: http://www.beyondhollywood.com/uploads/2010/04/Daniel-Sharman-in-Immortals-2011-Movie-Image.jpg  
> (or this one) http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31500000/Immortals-2011-daniel-sharman-31573654-534-800.jpg
> 
> Boyd's Avatar: http://fancyfembot.com/wp-content/uploads/sinquq_walls_lancelot_once.jpg
> 
> Derek's Avatar: http://animania735paradise.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/guts-beserker_3.jpg
> 
> Stiles' Avatar: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQN27h7yG-MUpPDJgm-4NyhSGeBilbWh3xTxMXRbVDf3pEzdVSm  
> (or this one) http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130706221357/mazerunner/images/thumb/e/ea/Thomas_Character_Still.png/200px-Thomas_Character_Still.png


	7. And He's Hotter Than Reality By Far

“I need heals, Erica!” Derek shouted as he dodged the Lich, the zombie hands rising out of the graves and grabbing onto Derek's cloak. He let out a grunt as Stiles jumped down on top of the zombie, burning his hand off so Derek to wiggle his way out of it.

“Hold your horses! Isaac's nearly dead!” she called, running her hands over Isaac's face as his head lolled back and finally snapped back up. “Ok, I'm com--” there was the sound of a sword running through her and a death scream as she vanished in a shower of pixels.

“Damn it! Her respawn time is terrible because of her armor stacks.” Derek cursed, fiddling in his inventory for a health potion and coming up empty handed. Stiles dug through his own and pulled out a small one before tossing it to Derek.

“You owe me a drink after this!” Stiles teased, sending a volley of fireballs off towards the Lich and rolling for cover under a tomb stone.

“Stiles, if we get out of this alive, I'll buy you the fucking bar!” Derek said, pulling out his sword and slicing the Lich in half. There was a wail, the beats slowly burning as his melting flesh fell off the bones. The zombies around them fell to the ground no longer moving.

“Well. That was anti-climatic.” Stiles said, rolling his eyes and turning to walk down the path. “C'mon, I'll buy the--”

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, the ground shaking as a giant head burst from the ground. The skin was rotting away and hanging from the stark white bones like bits of cloth, teeth were stained dark black from the dirt and blood and massive wings unfurled as Stiles gaped in horror as the massive Dracolich.

“I vote that Stiles is never allowed to talk again.” Isaac threw out, managing to get up on his two feet before cowering behind Boyd. “I also think we should _run_ since we don't have a healer!”

“I'm right here you big babies.” Erica said as she rematerialized next to Derek and touched him to heal the rest of his damage. “Ok, so. What are we going to do about the undead dragon?” the beast let out a horrible screech, clawing it's way out of the ground fully and shaking the dirt off.

“I think that the dragons all use the same graphic to come out of the ground. Don't they ever just fly down and grab you?” Stiles asked, Derek grabbing him and pulling him to the side.

“Good idea, let's talk about it when we're _not_ being chased by a Dracolich, ok?” he moved do they were hiding under a rock when the dragon began spraying the poison breath ray.

“Right, stay alive first then talk about how the game can kill us faster.” Stiles agreed, licking his lips and looking out from behind the cover to see if he could spot the dragon. He leaned back down. “Lift me up, I need to get a better look!” he said, looking over the rock and dangling his feet. Derek grabbed them, lifting him up slowly as Stiles turned his head from side to side. The dragon seemed to be... gone.

“Can you see him?” Derek asked, Stiles looking down to see the man's face _right_ near his crotch. And while this would under normal circumstance be making things _very_ hard for Stiles the sudden appearance of the Dracolich from under the ground again was a mood killer.

“Put me down! Put me down!” he screamed, wiggling as Derek tugged him down and into his lap as the Dragon's jaws snapped were Stiles had been seconds ago. Stiles was panting, running his hand over his head and closing his eyes in relief. “Oh thank god. I really like my head.” he smiled, opening his eyes to see he was straddling Derek. He swallowed, but the man didn't seem to notice their position as he pulled Stiles under the rock more and closer to him.

“I think we should use a teleportation scroll and just leave it for the day. We're low on health, Erica's spells are still on cool down, and we'll never make it with Isaac as weak as he is.” Stiles nodded in agreement, reaching into his inventory and pulling out a wayward portal scroll. He slid it open and the two of them ended up in the Rendezvous Inn at a table. Stiles quickly adjusted himself off of Derek and into the chair next to him.

“Well, that was a terrible idea.” Erica said as she appeared in a chair as well. Isaac and Boyd followed after, the table now full. “Why would you put a Dracolich in the same spawn pool as a normal Lich. We're the highest level Guild out there and _we_ can't handle it.”

“S'probably why that zone is still in Beta, Erica.” Isaac shot, ordering a flagon and gulping it down and shaking his head. “I think it's just a bug in the programing. I'll let Cora know when I log off.” Erica frowned a little.

“Where the hell are you going?” she asked, looking over him. He rose a brow and sighed.

“Unlike you, I'm going to college. And it _starts_ in like a week, so I have to pack and get ready to move.” he turned to Stiles and grinned. “I'm moving down next Friday, so wanna help me unpack?” Erica and Boyd both shared looks, Derek not even paying attention to the conversation and was more concerned looking up the map locations.

“Sure, dude. You have my number right? Just text me when you're at the airport and I'll bring Betty.” Isaac nodded, though the sound of a girls name shook Derek out of his map reading zone and looking between the two of them.

“Threesome, awesome. Thanks Stiles, catch you later.” and Isaac disappeared from the inn. Stiles had gotten closer to Isaac over the last month since he came to Beacon Hills. They talked a lot more, mostly about the game but some about college and how Stiles would have to show Isaac around Beacon Hills for real this time. Erica must have caught onto whatever it was Isaac had been doing before he left and grinned.

“So, what did you and Isaac do when he flew down to see you?” she purred, Stiles noticing Derek's posture turning ridged as he listened. Stiles shrugged a little, ordering a flagon and drinking it down.

“Just made dinner and talked.” Erica raised a brow, Boyd sending him a small smile as Derek continued to listen to the conversation while trying to hide his interest. Of course Stiles didn't notice this at all.

“So you cooked dinner or did he?” Stiles narrowed his eyes, frowning.

“I cooked. I enjoy cooking... why? Are you going to ask what I made? Because it was hamburger hotdish.” she smiled a little more, nodding.

“Wow, you are a man of many talents! So, did Isaac meet your family?” Stiles huffed a little nodding.

“Yeah, he and my dad bonded like right away, but that was because he _knew_ Isaac from-- hey, where are you going?” Derek had stood up, shooting a look at Erica and then shaking his head.

“Just need some air.” and he walked out of the Inn.

“Dude, we're in a video game! You don't nee to breathe!” Stiles called after him, Erica letting out a cackle of a laugh.

“Awww poor baby. He's jealous.” Stiles rolled his eyes, figuring it was probably just _Erica_ that was annoying Derek and slid out from the table.

“I'm going to check on him. Boyd, make sure she isn't a dick.” Boyd nodded stoically, pulling her close and refusing to let go as Stiles walked out of the inn. Derek was sitting on the fence around the property, looking out into the in-game sunset.

“Hey.” Stiles said, hopping on the fence and smiling. “You ok? You seemed to be having a little too much 'Erica' in there. I--”

“Is Isaac your boyfriend?” Derek asked, turning his face to look at Stiles. The boy blinked, frowning and shaking his head.

“Not that I know of, but I mean if Isaac is saying--”

“You cooked him dinner. He met your father. Those all seem like boyfriend traits.” Derek huffed a little, looking over him and shaking his head. “It doesn't matter to me, I just like to know if people in my group are dating.”

_It doesn't matter to me._ Stiles bit his lip, looking away. So it was just a one sided crush. Now Stiles was _really_ glad he didn't hop on a plane to New York to sweep Derek off his feet.

It would have ended in heartbreak.

“Oh, uh no. He came down to visit my dad. See, he and I used to be childhood friends and so...” he shrugged, looking off into the sunset and laughing. “No. I don't see Isaac that way. He's too much like my friend Scott... I could never date Scott. I mean, yes. I love him and would do almost anything for that stupid man. But nothing-- I'm going to stop talking.”

“Please do.” Derek grunted, sliding off the fence and looking away. “You're going to be busy with school soon, right? So I shouldn't expect to see you on at all.” he looked up at Stiles, shrugging himself. “Just a guess.”

“Dude, you have my cell number, you could text me if you want--”

“I don't want to text you, Stiles.” Derek said, taking a breath and rubbing his temples. “You know, just... forget it. I shouldn't have let you into the guild in the first place.”

That hurt. Stiles didn't think he annoyed Derek _that_ much, enough that the man wished he didn't see him on a daily bases. He stood up himself, looking Derek's Avatar in the face.

“Well then, maybe I'll just go play a different game.” he pulled up his inventory, took the guild invitation and hit _quit_ before tossing it at Derek's feet. “I heard the people at Wolf Hunter Online don't treat their _friends_ like shit.” he watched as Derek's face morphed from pain to anger and then finally to a sadness that Stiles thought was impossible to see on a CGI character.

Stiles logged off.

“You know, you are a terrible person when you're spending the last week of vacation sobbing your eyes out over something you said to a CGI character's face.” Stiles blubbered into his tub of ice cream, shaking his head. “I _HATE_ Wolf Hunter Online... Why the hell would I _SAY_ that?!” he asked Scott, the teen giving him a lopsided smile.

“It's ok, really. I'm sure if you log back on and say how sorry you are and that you were just acting that way because-- Oh no. Don't mention that... you said he didn't like you that way?” Stiles nodded pathetically, taking another spoonfull of Chocolate Chip Cookiedough and sighing heavily.

“He taught I vuz dating Iffac.” he said through the spoon, shaking his head. “He thought I was dating Isaac just because he flew from New York to see me and I cooked him dinner.” Stiles paused, groaning. “Oh my god that sounds so gay!”

“And romantic.” Scott said slowly, grinning a little as Stiles slapped him on the chest. “Sorry, but it can be a platonic thing, right? I mean you make me dinner all the time.”

There was a pause and then Scott made a face.

“Ok so maybe that's a little gay too, but who cares! The point is you should have looked him in the eyes and said 'I don't want Isaac, you goofball, I want you!'” Stiles blinked, raising a brow.

“Sour wolf. I would have said Sour Wolf. Because...” he sighed, slamming his head back on the pillow. “Because I'm a hopeless romantic who can't stop thinking about him.” he kicked the bed in frustration.

“I've only known him like... three months, it's not like I can just ask him to go out with--” the door opened a little and Stiles bit his lip as his father peaked in.

“Uh, Stiles. I know I might not be the best person to... do you, uh...” Scott turned around and smiled.

“Sheriff Stilinski how did you meet your wife?” John blinked a little, walking into the room completely.

“Well, her friend introduced us. She was visiting from Madison, Wisconsin and we hit it off. Of course she had to go back to school, so we wrote letters to each other and talked on the phone.”

“So you had a long distance relationship?” Stiles asked, frowning a little as he sat up. “I mean, how did that work? You were on different time zones and--”

“If you want it to work, you make it work.” his father said softly, smiling. “It really doesn't matter how you meet someone. As long as you get to know them and like them for who they are, who can say that your relationship isn't worth just as much as others?”

Stiles hesitated but handed his ice cream and hugged his dad tightly. “Thanks.” he said softly, nuzzling into his neck and smiling.

“Any time, kiddo. Any time.”

Isaac texted Stiles later that week saying he wouldn't need a ride from the airport but that the dorms weren't opening until tuesday so he needed a place to crash until then. Stiles was more than willing to ask his dad about Isaac staying with them, and John agreed.

Stiles spend the rest of Friday morning cleaning out the guest room and making sure everything would be ready for when Isaac came. Scott even helped him by moving the bed from the attic to the room and making the bed.

The door bell rang around noon, Stiles running a hand through his hair as he looked over the room with a somewhat satisfaction.

“I'll get it.” Scott said, jumping off the bed and racing down the stairs to answer the door. Stiles was taking the stairs two at a time, dancing slightly with the broom in his hands and headphones in his ears as he put the cleaning supplies away. He was getting to his favorite part of the song where he and Scott had invented a small dance number to it when he looked up.

In his door step was the most amazing looking man of all time. Dark black tufts of hair standing out like he had just gotten out of bed, bright eyes that were blue, no green, no wait... whatever. They were beautiful. A strong jaw covered in stubble and a perfectly toned body. Stiles licked his lips slightly and swallowed before turning to Scott who was just gazing at the man too. Isaac popped up from behind the mystery man and grinned wide.

“Surprise! Stiles meet Derek. Derek, Stiles!”


	8. What Role Do You Wanna Play

 To say Stiles took this well was an overstatement. His lungs literally started to seize up, breath catching in his throat and refusing to give him oxygen.

“Oh my god, Stiles!” Scott walked over, grabbing him and helping him sit down on the chair. “Breathe! Stiles, just breathe!” the teen was taking gasps of air, trying to make his heart slow down and his lungs work properly.

“I _told_ you this was a bad idea...” Derek turned and muttered to Isaac, his eyes flicking between Stiles and the curly blonde. Isaac crossed his arms and frowned.

“You're the one who acted like an ass, you're the one who has to fix it.” Isaac countered, squaring his shoulders and getting into Derek's personal space.

The older man backed off a little, shaking his head and letting out a _growl_. So, it wasn't just the game adding more wolf-like features. Stiles thought, though to be honest it was _hot_.

“He's _your_ boyfriend. You can deal with it.” Derek said, looking like he was going to walk out the door.

Thank god for confused puppies like Scott.

“Isaac? Stiles, I thought you said you had a crush on Derek! Wasn't he the guy you were crying over?” the man stopped in his retreat, looking over his shoulder for a moment at Scott and then at Isaac who nodded in confirmation. Stiles had managed to re-gain his normal breathing at this point, his body groaning in relief as he took a few deep inhalations.

“Thanks Scott. Thanks for saying that out loud.” Stiles patted him on the shoulder, only being half sarcastic. Scott beamed however and took as an actual complement. Stiles stood up from the chair, brushing himself off and taking a deep breath. “So, can I get anyone something to drink?”

It wasn't too bad after Isaac got Derek to sit down in one of Stiles' overstuffed armchairs and relax, the man seemed to be a bit jumpy about almost everything. Stiles didn't blame him, if he had been a recluse for five years of his life, Stiles would be jumpy too.

They all settled down with ice teas and Isaac started talking immediately. It wasn't actual conversation, most of it was just Isaac listing off the things he needed to do before school started and all the books he had to buy. Finally, Scott decided they should all go out to eat somewhere, something fun.

Like taco bell.

“I love Mexican.” Isaac said, walking out the door after Scott. Stiles was about to follow them when he noticed Derek was hesitating at the threshold. Stiles frowned a little, urging Isaac and Scott to go without them and turned back to Derek.

“So... if you don't want to leave, do you want me to make you something?” there was a flash as Derek's eyes met Stiles' for the briefest of seconds.

“You don't have to.” he said, eying the door once more and biting his lip slightly. Stiles rolled his eyes and motioned to the table.

“Sit, I'll make something.” and he did. Stiles made his famous spaghetti and meatballs, (without the mushrooms) and filled two plates with it and some garlic toast. Derek blinked at it, looking from the plate to Stiles and then back to the plate.

“Thank you.” he said quietly and they ate. Stiles wasn't exactly sure what his problem was with communication, it seemed it did a perfectly good job with it online and with Isaac. But Erica said he usually only trusted those few people who he met in real life. So maybe this was Derek trying to trust him.

“It's good.” he said finally, looking up and offering a half smile to Stiles. That was enough for the teen to flush and blurt out.

“You're really hot.” Derek choked on the ice tea, swallowing as his face burst into a bright red from the tips of his ears to the neck. Stiles wondered if it went farther down than the grey henley was showing.

“I--” he started, looking away for a moment and closing his eyes. “I think you're very attractive too.” Stiles made a face, rolling his eyes and flexing his arm muscles.

“Yeah, look at all that! I'm a regular fox.” he made a growling sound and gnashed his teeth. Derek was gazing at him, eyes never leaving Stiles' for a second. He cleared his throat.

“Better than being a Sour wolf.” Stiles blinked for a moment and then Derek was chuckling, the full laugh that sent warm and fuzzy tingles to Stiles' stomach.

“You still owe me that drink, mister. I saved your little werewolf ass from that Lich.” Derek snorted, shaking his head.

“Uh, as I recall, it was _me_ who pulled you under for cover when the Dracolich rose.” he twirled his spaghetti, sliding the forkfull into his mouth and giving him a smug look as he chewed and swallowed. “So as I see it, you owe _me_ a drink.” Stiles scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“Yeah right. You just want me to take you out.” there was silence for a moment, Derek's smile becoming softer.

“And what if I do?” Stiles could feel his heart beating in his chest, this was something he wasn't prepared for. Derek wanted him to take him out? Stiles? He really must not know a lot of people, because people that looked like Derek didn't like people who looked like Stiles.

They liked people who looked like Lydia or Jackson.

“I would say you probably need glasses.” he said, crossing his arms and shrugging. “Because-- wait, really?” Derek was reaching in his pocket and pulling out black framed glasses, putting them on and adjusting them on the bridge of his nose. “Dude, you're like... ten times hotter with those on. Take them off, seriously...” Stiles was flushed, trying to look away.

“You shouldn't say things like that.” Derek muttered, taking his glasses off.

“I shouldn't say the truth? That seems like the opposite of what everyone else tells me.” Stiles countered, the two of them now in an awkward silence. Derek cleared his throat again and looked over him.

“I'm sorry. I was--”

“Sorry I--” they both looked at each other, Stiles urging Derek to go first. The man nodded.

“I thought you were dating Isaac... I was... Jealous.” he said simply. “But, I didn't want you to stop-- I especially didn't want you to g-quit...”

Stiles swallowed a little, running a hand through his hair.

“I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to say that about Wolf Hunter... I hate that game so much. I just... I thought you hated being around me--”

“I thought you hated being around me.” Derek said softly “It's not the first time people leave after they find out the real me.” Stiles frowned, shaking his head.

“Dude, no. I _like_ the real you. Mushroom hating and all. I don't like when you act like a big ass tool just because you're the guild leader. I like the sarcastic, slightly growl-y Derek who uses me as bait and tackles me to the ground.” Derek bit his lip slightly, looking away as he flushed darker.

“It's hard.” he said finally. “Hard for me to-- in the real world-- I'm not...” Stiles paused, looking over him.

“Would it be easier to say it online?” Derek looked up, nodding slightly. “Well cool. I assume you have your--” Derek pulled out a smaller looking device and pressed it to his temple. Stiles rolled his eyes, looking over the smaller device. “Right, you would have the newest version.” he cleaned up their plates, loading the dishwasher and then walking up to his room.

Derek followed up, Stiles feeling a little strange leading his crush up to his room so that they could play video games. He sighed, opening the door and offering one side of his bed to Derek.

“Start Game” Derek said, eyes sliding closed and body still. Stiles slid the helmet on and before he started the game, he grabbed Derek's hand and the man smiled.

“Start Game.” 


	9. Our Love Will Be In Virtual Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check out Derek Hale's user profile!  
> http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r219/HAnna-Bell/derekuser_zpsf68937ff.jpg

**Epilogue. One year later.**

“Erica! Get your elf ass over here and give me some god damn HEALS!” Isaac screamed, dodging yet another tentacle as it shot out of the water and tried to grapple him.

“Scott, use your fury fist on the ground. It will cause an earthquake.” Boyd shouted at the newest character, Scott rushing forward and doing exactly what Boyd suggested. Stiles was weaving through the waving tentacles, casting spells as the giant head of the Kraken roared out of the water.

“Hoe-lee, SHIT. Laura went all out on this bad ass!” Stiles exclaimed, grinning as he climbed up the stalagtites and shot spells from his vantage point. Derek was hacking and slashing at the tentacles, rolling away from the gaping maw of the creature as it tried to eat him.

“Yeah, well if we get out of this encounter, I'll tell her you said so.” Erica said, running behind Isaac and healing him quickly before diving into one of the pools to start draining the water.

“He can tell her himself!” Derek grunted, running up and slamming his sword into one of the eyes and retreating back. “She'll be in California tonight.”

Stiles made a little sound, grinning as he cast Mage armor on Scott so he could run up and punch one of the eyes as well. “Dude! Is she going to be working here too?”

Since Derek's return to the public view, more people started buying Hale games and the company needed to expand. So, Hale Industries opened a second base of operations in Beacon Hills California, operated by Derek Hale the new Co-CEO. It had been going pretty well, especially since Stiles was now officially working as a Beta tester for the company. He only had a year left of college and after that he would become the second youngest programer in North America.

Cora and Stiles had already been talking about the Sky-world expansion they hoped to release by the end of the year.

“No, she's just coming to check up on her baby brother!” Erica said, rolling out from the pool as the water slowly started to drain. She snorted as she dove into the next one, Derek shooting her a death glare.

“Aw, don't be like that Der-Bear” Isaac cooed, winking. “I'm sure it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your _boyfriend_.” he motioned to Stiles who was hanging by his legs now and shooting spells.

“Hey! Right here, don't have to be so sassy, Isaac.” he called, flipping from the rocks and rushing forward. “And damn right I'm his boyfriend. Right Sour wolf?” Derek snorted, slamming his sword once more into an eye and sending a wink to Stiles.

It went directly to his stomach.

“I'm really glad you two are together, but if you haven't noticed there is a KRAKEN. The size of an OCEAN trying to rip us apart!” Scott called, meditating as he built up his power for his monk fists.

“Right, right. Kill Kraken _then_ talk about relationships.” Isaac rolled his eyes, shooting four arrows off into the monster's face and rolling out of the way. Boyd was hacking at the head, trying to break open the hard shell so that they could get to the soft center of the beast.

“Easier said than done.” Stiles muttered, casing fireball on the beast in an attempt to crack the shell. “I'm running out of Mana and all my potions are gone. Can anyone tell Erica that I need--”

“Shut up, Stiles.” Erica said, popping up from the pool by his feet and touching his leg. His mana filled up and he sent a smile down to her.

“Thanks E.” and they continued the battle.

“He's at 5%!” Erica shouted, looking over to Derek and nodding. “Scott, go!” The boy nodded, running up and slamming his fist into the Kraken's head. With a final scream, the tentacles slithered back into the ground and the monster fell over dead. The corpse slowly turned into loot and Scott let out a whoop.

“Oh my god that was AMAZING! Did you see that? It was--”

“Yeah, yeah. We get it, you're awesome. Can we go get healed?” Isaac interrupted, looking over the group and rolling his eyes. Stiles shot him a look and nodded, the group teleporting to the Rendezvous Inn and breaking off to do their own thing.

“So.” Stiles said, walking up to Derek slowly and giving him an easy smile. “What are you doing. Right now. At this second.” Derek looked over him, tilting his head and giving an easy smile.

“I'm thinking about kissing you.” he said, leaning in and grinning. “Out of game.” Stiles' eyes widened and he bit his lip. In game Derek was much easier with the PDA, they had /kissed a few times, but in the real world the closest Derek had gotten to that was holding Stiles' hand and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Stiles could be patient.

Kinda.

“Really? Tell me more about this...” he leaned in close, feeling the hilt of Derek's sword in his thigh. “Ok, first, your sword is _always_ poking me.” Derek let a grin pass across his face as he leaned in to whisper.

“That's not my sword, Stiles.” the teenager was _really_ glad the avatars couldn't show blushing because he was sure he would be bright red. “So, let me ask you. What are _you_ doing. Right now. At this second.” Stiles let out a moan and bit his lip.

“Hey, Derek?” the man's eyes met his, looking at him with a soft grin. “Why did you go out of the house? I mean like... why did you come to California with Isaac?”

The mad pulled away a little, though he still had his arms loosely around the teenager.

“Isaac said if I went down to California, I'd get to go on a date with a hot teenager who I'd been flirting with since I met him.”

Stiles held up his hand, looking over the man slowly.

“You. The man who hadn't left the house in five years, left so that you could go on a date with someone you met on the internet?” Derek thought about it for a moment and then shook his head.

“Not just someone. You, Stiles.” Derek smiled wider, rubbing their noses together and licking Stiles' bottom lip. And the man's character was gone. Stiles took a deep breath, closing his eyes and realizing that yes. This was his life, that was his boyfriend, and he was going to log off and have an _amazing_ afternoon.

“Game Off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to write a story in this universe, just link me your finished/WIP fics!


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